Page 16 - Reforming Benefits Decision-Making -(updated - August 2021)
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1.2   These issues exist against the backdrop of  the sweeping reforms  made to
               working age benefits by  the  Welfare Reform Act 2012. Amongst  other
               significant changes,   the  Welfare Reform Act introduced Universal Credit
                                 4
               (‘UC’), a single working age benefit for those out of work or on a low
               income, which replaces six ‘legacy benefits’ and tax credits.  The aim of UC
                                                                     5
                                                                   6
               was to simplify the system and improve work incentives.  It is also the first
               major government service to  be  ‘digital by default’. This  means  that the
               application is made online and the interaction with the Department for Work
               and Pensions (DWP)/Department  for Communities (DfC)  (in Northern
               Ireland) is largely through a digital account, with claimants “nudged back” to
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               the  web channel.   However,  a  significant  cohort  of  benefits  claimants  are
               ‘digitally  excluded’, due  to an inability to access  the  internet or digital
               devices, a lack of digital skills or a lack of confidence in using the internet and
               digital devices.  Simultaneously, Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service
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               (HMCTS), is in the  middle of a programme of court and tribunal reform
               which is  expanding the use of digital technology in the  justice system,
               including the First-tier Tribunal  (Social Security and Child Support) (FTT
               (SSCS)), where benefits appeals are heard.




          Education Foundation and The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2018), p. 51-52. See also forthcoming
          research by the Pro Bono Economics Unit and the AJC on the economic costs of wrongly made first
          instance decisions, due to be published September 2021.
          4  For example, capping the total amount of benefit that can be claimed by a household – the ‘benefit
          cap’; cuts in Housing Benefit entitlement to social housing tenants whose accommodation is deemed
          larger than they  need  –  the  ‘bedroom tax. The Welfare Reform Act also introduced mandatory
          reconsideration which is discussed in Chapter 3 below.
          5  Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance; income-related Employment and Support Allowance; Income
          Support; Child Tax Credits; Working Tax Credits; and Housing benefit.
          6  DWP, 21st Century Welfare (Cm 7913, 2010), p. 7; DWP, ‘2010 to 2015 government policy: welfare
          reform’ (2015).
          7  G. Hitchcock, ‘Universal credit to be first service ‘digital by default’’ (The Guardian, 3 February
          2012).
          8  According to the 2018 Universal Credit Full-Service Survey only 54 per cent of all claimants were
          able to register their claim online unassisted and 25 per cent were not able to submit their claim online
          at all. Government Social Research and the DWP, Universal Credit Full Service Survey (2018), para
          1.3.1.


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